Index of category sex

A great deal has already been said about Seven Seas and Kodomo no Jikan/Nymphet. People who want to know about that stuff already do. There is just one thing relating to that mess that I'd like to comment on here; it concerns a point in Jason DeAngelis's first public statement on the subject. He has since retracted some of the statement, but the principle illustrated is more general than just this one incident. [1151 words...] (31 May 2007)

This article in the Las Vegas Sun describes a Reno, Nevada man acquitted of chatroom child-luring because the 16-year-old woman he "lured" into an in-person meeting did not actually exist. She was actually a false persona created by the local sheriff's department. The judge ruled that you can't be guilty of "luring" a minor when no minor is actually involved, so no conviction; and the appeals court upheld that decision - continuing the US legal system's tradition of recognizing a difference between reality and fantasy. There is an added wrinkle that makes it less strong, however. [402 words...] (16 June 2005)

Here's an article from Mainichi Interactive (in English) on the trend towards explicit sexuality in shoujo manga (Japanese graphic novels marketed to girls). One point I find interesting is that this stuff is not at all new in shounen (aimed at boys) products, but apparently a line has been crossed now that the readers are female. Also interesting are some of the comments from youthful interviewees - one of whom pointed out that hey, if we're sitting here reading manga alone, that means we're not "cool" enough to be out there doing this stuff with boys in real life, so "parents should feel at ease". Another fingers sex-related Internet spam as a worse problem. The difference between fantasy and reality seems to be a lot clearer than it is for many North Americans. Notice also the tone of the article in the third paragraph; I don't know whether that adjective-heavy style is direct from the original Japanese or introduced by the translator, but I think somebody over at Mainichi has been spending too much time reading the wrong kind of fanfic. (14 December 2004)

Imagine for a moment that you're one of those creepy people we've heard so much about: a chatroom pervert. You've "stalked", you've "groomed", and now your prospective victim, who claims to be a 12-year-old girl, has finally agreed to meet you in person. Now you face a dilemma: do you make the date? Thing is, she might not really be 12. She might not even be a "she". Maybe she's someone much like yourself, in which case the two of you can grin uncomfortably at each other and walk away; but maybe she's actually a male undercover cop, in which case the consequences of trying to date her may be more serious. How do you know? Well, thanks to VeriSign, now you can be sure. [981 words...] (27 September 2004)

Spotted in Mike Sugimoto's blog - a 15-year-old near Pittsburgh is being charged with sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography, and dissemination of child pornography, for distributing photos of herself "in various states of undress and performing a variety of sexual acts". I wonder how wide a "variety of sexual acts" is actually possible given that she was the only person in the pictures, and here was me thinking the term "self-abuse" had fallen out of fashion in the middle of last century, but those are minor issues. [237 words...] (7 April 2004)

I'm working on a lengthy posting about various freedom of expression issues and the 28 October Hansard, but this quote jumped out at me and I think it deserves its own blog entry, especially because it's not really about freedom of expression but rather the age of sexual consent. Mrs. Marlene Jennings (Parliamentary Secretary to the Solicitor General of Canada, Lib.): "As a mother, and I do not mean to trivialize the question, I would love to have the age of consent at 25." I think that's the sort of quote that deserves a lot of press coverage. [Marlene Jennings would have the age of consent be 25] (2 November 2003)

This article from the Montreal Gazette covers the first invocation of Quebec's new "Amber Alert" anti-child-abduction system, and it highlights the difference between what we fear, and what the systems we build to protect ourselves actually counteract. Amber Alert is sold on the premise that it counteracts the classic nightmare abduction scenario: an evil stranger grabs a small child and makes off with them. The actual case here was of a 17-year-old who had an argument with an 18-year-old and then voluntarily got into a car with him; not the classic "abduction" at all. Even for cases that are acknowledged as abductions, the "abductor" is often the child's parent (most often, the father) who had lost a custody battle, and that's a completely different kind of situation from the stranger/tiny child/white slave trade fairy tale that's used to sell Amber Alert and similar systems. This all reminds me of the age-of-consent issue, where we're confronted with a nightmare scenario ("Evil pedophiles raping 3-year-olds!") and it's used as a justification for a crackdown on something entirely different ("We must raise the age of consent to 18!"). It's no coincidence that there's an illicit-sex (or at least, illicit-romance) angle in the Shandal case, too, what with the racial thing. Thanks to Kate McDonnell and her Montreal City Weblog, where I picked up this item. [White teenager "rescued" from black boyfriend] (17 July 2003)

Three cheers for Mr. Richard Marceau (Charlesbourg-Jacques-Cartier, BQ), who made a very good speech in the Commons yesterday about the Alliance scheme to raise the age of consent for sexual activity. As he said in translation, "What they are suggesting would inevitably result in an unmanageable legal mess and would run counter to the fundamental principles of the administration of justice." Bill C-215 did not become votable and was dropped from the order paper. [C-215 put to rest] (5 November 2002)

Most of Monday's Hansard is full of debate on a sex offender registry bill. I'm not going to comment on it except to say that Carol Skelton found another excuse to pontificate that the age of sexual consent, currently 18 for anal sex and 14 for other activities, is too low and ought to be increased. Lots of rhetoric about "children 14 years of age and older". Not to put too fine a point on it, people who talk about "children 14 years of age and older" do not usually win my sympathy. I certainly wasn't a "child" myself when I was 14, and I object to the claim that forbidding me from making my own decisions about sex at that age would have given me "a chance". That is exactly what it would not have done. (Don't even get me started on the anti-gay slant of the current law.) The Member for Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar is my least favourite parliamentarian at the moment. [204 words...] (6 February 2002)

Quote from Mrs. Carol Skelton (Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar, Canadian Alliance)'s statement in Parliament yesterday: "While the sexual age of consent in the country remains at 14 years of age we will continue to have a problem." She said other things, too, but I don't think that taking that sentence by itself misrepresents her attitude. Yesterday also saw a round of tributes for Preston Manning, as he leaves politics. I'd feel happier about Manning leaving if it weren't for the current trend of the right becoming more and more extreme - there are days when Manning looks positively moderate by comparison. And I heard a mention on the radio this morning that one of Enza Supermodel Anderson's campaign fundraisers had failed; I don't know if that's a final end to her leadership bid, and if it is, I can't say it's any surprise, but it's another depressing event. Sure would be cool if she'd win the Alliance leadership. [Stop me before I rant again] (1 February 2002)

Some time ago I read on BeliefNet a story about a dying teenage boy who was helped by one of those "last wish" organizations. He wished for "a date with a redhead", and the resulting experience was very Inspirational and Faith-Affirming for the teenage girl from whose point of view the story is written. (Story ripped off from one of the Chicken Soup books and reprinted with and without attribution all over the Net.) Well, that got me thinking. Obviously these people were Christians with a capital X and a "date" would be about all the kid could reasonably expect, but it's hard not to imagine that when we're talking about a 15-year-old male the thought might at least cross his mind that "I don't want to die a virgin," and what if he were to actually express that as his last wish? It even crossed my mind to write a story examining that possibility, although it's a dicey proposition because the stupid, stupid Canadian child pornography laws can cover purely fictional text created without harming any real children, if it's considered not to have redeeming artistic value. (Statute and enforcement are two very different things, and I think my contemplated story obviously would have redeeming artistic value, but if I keep discussing this I'll be at five thousand words before we know it.) Anyway, it turns out that, as I probably should have guessed, the last wish for sex ain't so fictional. [Reality beats me to the punch yet again] (27 December 2001)

Liberal MP John Maloney introduces one petition to make the age of sexual consent 18 years except for married people (married to each other, that is), and two more to repeal Canada's current legal recognition of same-sex common-law couples. Please note that these are only petitions; they don't mean the Government is seriously planning to make these changes, only that a group of concerned citizens was able to convince Mr. Maloney to bring their concerns to parliament (which it is his sworn duty as an elected representative to do, even if the citizens' concerns are stupid). Nonetheless, now might be a good time to write a postage-free holiday letter to Ottawa. [Why not just outlaw sex entirely? You know you want to.] (18 December 2001)